Back at the castle they were greeted by grooms and pages who took their horses to the stable to be cleaned up and then fed their dinners and bedded down on fresh straw for the night. The boys, and Sun Arrow, headed through the great ornate front doors of the castle into the big main hall. Noodles followed. The smell of supper cooking filled the air. They looked at each other for a second, then followed their noses into the big dining room.
The king and queen were already seated at the big table, along with Lady Jesse Lynn and her family, and several other nobles and ladies. Against one long wall was an enormous fireplace, with a big warm fire blazing. The other long wall had an equally big window, which looked out over the garden. Between the two long walls was a very long table, with a lot of ornate chairs. At the far end of the dining hall was a big open doorway that led to the kitchen, and servers were bringing full platters of lovely-smelling food into the room through that doorway.
The group of adventurers seated themselves. Noodles curled himself up on the floor next to the prince's chair.
"Bring a plate for my stalwart little dog," Jae Vaughn called out to one of the servers bringing food to the table.
"You should have seen him," the prince added, turning to direct the remark mainly to his father the king, but also glancing around to everyone at the table. "This little dog saved Lady Jess from a Skreeagle, and the sorcerer that rode on it! This dog jumped up and bit right into that Skreeagle's throat, and didn't let go. It thrashed and it shook and it floundered, until finally it dropped Jesse Lynn and the sorcerer both." The prince patted Noodles on the head. "Brought down a giant Skreeagle! Amazing little dog," the prince ended.
Noodles wagged his tail, hearing that. His tail made a thumping sound hitting the floor. The story sounded a lot more impressive when the prince told it.
The prince patted the dog on the head again.
"You brought back Hummingbird?" Lady Jesse Lynn enquired.
"Fire Tiger should have brought her back before we arrived. They flew off together in this direction," the prince replied, then turned to look at the head butler questioningly.
"The dragons returned safely, Sire," the butler answered the unspoken question, and bowed. "They were bedded down in the stables, with fresh straw. I'm told Hummingbird was only slightly injured, but very tired from the ordeal."
Lady Jesse Lynn smiled.
When a plate arrived for Noodles, the prince put some big chunks of roasted meat on it, and set it on the floor. Noodles hadn't realized he was hungry, but the meat tasted really good. The butler gave him a bowl of water too, without being instructed. This was a great place, Noodles thought. He wasn't sure what place it was, exactly, but it was great.
He lay down on the floor, curled up by Jae Vaughn's feet. With roast meat in his tummy warming up his insides, and the cozy fire warming up his outside, he began to feel very sleepy indeed. It had been a big day, after all. Noodles twitched a bit, curled up again, and fell asleep.
He slept soundly and contentedly, he didn't know for how long. Indeed time seemed to be suspended, the way it was in the little boy's room where Granny's grandson used to live before the witch took him away.
Noodles woke with a start, back on the bed by the upstairs window in Granny's house. He heard a sound outside that he recognized as Granny's car door closing. He heard her keys jingle, and the car doors clicking into lockdown mode. Granny was home!
He raced down the stairs, arriving at the front door just as it opened. He jumped straight up and down in a frenzy of excitement. "Rrrr-ARF!" he said at the height of each jump.
Granny set down whatever she was carrying so she could clap her hands together just above his head each time he jumped. She had to reach her arms upward to do it, his jumps were so high.
"Is that my good dog?" She said at each jump, sometimes with small variations: "Is that my good little dog? Were you a good little dog today? That's my good dog!"
Noodles bounced high with the excitement of the moment, wobbling his head from side to side, ears flopping, tail wagging. "Rrrr-ARF!" he said again and again.
"That's my good dog," Granny answered each time. "That's my very good dog. Yes, you're a good dog, you are."
Finally he stilled himself into a sitting position and just looked up at her. She knelt down and rubbed his ears. "Noodles is a very good little dog," she said again, patting his head and rubbing his back. "Good dog."
The End
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